


Dynasty

by jess (jess_m)



Series: Dynasty [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), everything is slow burn, i'm just writing my own marauders story, it's literally my own marauders book, like massive, this fic is MASSIVE, very slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:48:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29524563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jess_m/pseuds/jess
Summary: Chronicalling the marauder's time at Hogwarts and (slightly) past with the addition of several original characters; Alanna Pierce, Christine Pierce, Flora Greengrass, and Paris Flint. (This is basically the book I wish I had of the marauders).This is going to change up canon quite a bit but all the best bits stay the same.ALSO! The marauders and all characters within this story, out of my own personal spite for JKR, are going to be much more diverse across the LGBTQ+ spectrum and there will be plenty more characters of color. If you don't want to read your faves being gay, this is not the story for you.Based off Dynasty by MIIA
Relationships: Alice Longbottom/Frank Longbottom, Andromeda Black Tonks/Ted Tonks, Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Rodolphus Lestrange, James Potter/Original Female Character(s), Lily Evans Potter/Original Female Character(s), Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy, Marlene McKinnon/Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Peter Pettigrew/Original Female Character(s), Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Dynasty [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2168997
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Confinement

**Author's Note:**

> I will try to update this fic on a regular basis, so, for now, update schedule is every Wednesday.

**Alanna Pierce**

**July 11, 1971**

The bathwater had lost all heat. It seemed to be the only thing Alanna could focus on. The bathwater wasn’t hot and the house was silent. Now, by no means was the house empty. In fact, there were plenty of days when she couldn’t seem to get a breath of silence trapped within the confines of her two-story home. 

However, on this day in particular there seemed to be nothing left to say.

Make no mistake, there was nothing inherently special about this day. It was summer break for the two girls within the house. It was blistering hot, likely the hottest day of the year, so everyone was stuck in the house with Alanna, each unwilling to venture out into the overwhelming heat.

For her family members that often passed their time out living amongst the world, it was headaches stacked on top of heat that made an annoyance so deeply ingrained they couldn’t muster the words to even express it. Alanna, on the other hand, was far too comfortable within their home- not by choice, mind you, but rather by a lack of choice.

Growing up, very strange and often worrisome coincidences seemed to be attracted to her. She claimed innocence on all parts but the school system and more importantly, her parents, weren’t as forgiving as her conscience might be. 

It had started off simple. A cruel teacher insulting students who didn’t understand the material getting his windows smashed on a very windy day. Something that could easily be explained away by weather or spiteful children who were never caught. If it had remained that simple maybe Alanna could still be going to school with her sister, but when did she ever get what she wanted? No, rather than stopping altogether the strange events happened more often. 

She caught a bully beating up a little boy and less than an hour later he was being chased around the car park with a pair of floating scissors jumping close enough to cut small pieces of his hair off. 

One girl tried to shove chewing gum in her hair and got shoved ten feet backward into a bookshelf, fracturing her wrist. 

After the last incident, she was expelled from the school indefinitely and with all the odd events adding up, her parents decided it might be best for everyone involved if they just homeschooled her. 

It served well enough. Her mother preferred working from home so she could take the time to homeschool Alanna, and if that was all it had been it would have been marvelous.

However, to avoid any more incidents her parents preferred she stay at home at all times. She went out occasionally to their yard to get some fresh air, or if her father insisted on her need to see the world and took her on a grocery run, but more often than not she was trapped at home with only her mother for company reading Shakespeare and wondering why she couldn’t be like the other kids.

Alanna took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. She reached for her mother’s scrunchie laying precariously on the side of the sink and used it to pull up her hair. She closed her eyes once again and pretended she was within one of her mother’s favorite shows.

“Oh, Sandy, I just don’t know what I’m going to do,” Alanna moaned. “I don’t know if I can take another day here. I need you to help me now more than ever. Sandy, you’re the only one who-.”

Out of nowhere, the door burst open, and a tiny- very freckled, blonde girl stood behind it with wide blue eyes and a horrible grin. 

“She’s up here!” Christine bellowed.

“Bloody hell!” Alanna exclaimed, jumping up in the bath.

“She’s pretending she’s on  _ Crossroads _ again!” Christine giggled.

Alanna clenched her jaw and rolled her eyes. She regretted ever ignoring Christine as her sister read through her very private journal. She would have never known about her crush on Sandy. 

“ _ Crossroads _ ?!” Her mother’s Irish accent rang out across the house. “Does she know how long she’s been in that bloody bath?! I’ll  _ Crossroads _ her!”

As Rebecca Pierce screamed at Alanna, the girl sunk slowly deeper into the bath until she could feel the water beginning to go into her ears.

“I’ve enough on my plate without  _ Crossroads _ ! Tell her she’s got a visitor!” Rebecca hollered.

Alanna sucked in a breath and glared at Christine. “Close the door!” She snapped.

Christine rolled her eyes and marched inside before closing the door tightly behind her. 

“No, Chris,” Alanna sighed. “Leave. Then close the door.”

Christine simply snorted and opened the door, smirking at Alanna as she stepped outside and closed the door once she was out in the corridor. 

Alanna groaned and sunk down into the bath until her head was under the water. She opened her eyes beneath the water and peered at the murky waters around her, the suds from her soap long since gone due to her time spent within the bath. 

Begrudgingly, she pulled herself out of the bath, biting her tongue at the sudden blast of cool air. Every fan in the house was likely blasting cold air into every corner. The bath was lukewarm at best but it was still a slight reprieve. 

She patted the towel down her body carelessly before pulling on her clothes and tiptoeing out into the corridor. 

Before she had been out for more than two seconds, her little sister leaped up behind her.

“YAAA!!” Christine screamed in her ear.

“AHH!!” Alanna shrieked before smacking her sister repeatedly.

“Mammy says you’ve got an old man visiting you. Is a stranger coming to prey on you like they warned in school?” Christine smiled, putting on a very thick Irish accent just like their mother had. 

“Chris stop faking that accent and just tell me who it is,” Alanna moaned. 

“I don’t know,” Christine huffed, her accent British once again. “Mum wouldn’t let me see she just sent me up to fetch you when there was a knock at the door.”

“Right, well you probably have a book to read or something so-.”

“But I wanna see the stranger!” Christine cried, stamping her feet and beginning to pout at Alanna. “I wanna see him prey on you!”

“Chris, the stranger probably doesn’t wanna see you! And we have to be nice about it!” Alanna said. She placed her hand over Christine’s face and shoved her backward. 

“Oi, I’m telling mum about that!”

Alanna snorted and began marching down the stairs. “Tell her all you like! I’ll tell her you insulted our guest! It’ll all cancel out!”

Christine didn’t offer much of a comeback which left Alanna smiling as she hopped down the stairs and turned towards the kitchen where her mother always forced guests to have snacks and tea so they would think kindly of her. 

Indeed, sitting across the table from her mother was a quite tall man dressed in a very strange but colorful suit. He seemed to be very old from his snow-white hair and lengthy white beard reaching down to his belly button. Alanna was entirely intrigued by him, she had never seen anyone as wonderfully odd-looking and she was suddenly very anxious to hear what this man wanted to talk to her about. 

“Finally!” Rebecca snipped, making Alanna jump and turn to her mother with wide hazel eyes. “Nearly wasted a day up there, didn’t you? Did you have half a mind to spend some time with your family?”

Alanna cringed and glanced down at her feet, shuffling them before speaking.

“Sorry, mum,” Alanna mumbled. “I just-.”

“You just what?! You just thought that if you-.”

“Miss Pierce,” the old man hummed, smiling thinly at Alanna. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Slowly, Rebecca deflated as the old man rose from his seat- positively towering over Alanna. He held out a hand for her to shake.

Alanna stared at him, entranced. It had been around five years, most of her life, since she actually met someone outside of her family let alone had such a formal introduction to them. She wasn’t certain she could do anything but shake the man’s hand. So she did.

The man’s smile brightened at her shaking his hand.

“My name is Professor Dumbledore and I was wondering if you might show me your lovely little garden.”

“Ah, sir, I think it might be best if I-,” Rebecca began.

“I appreciate the thought, ma’am, but I would like to speak with Miss Pierce if you wouldn’t mind.”

Alanna could see the panic in her mother’s eyes beginning to set in but she did her best to pretend like it didn’t bother her in the slightest letting out a tightened sigh and nodding quickly.

Dumbledore held out his hand and, with a brief glance at her mother, Alanna took it and together they headed out to the backyard. 

There was a tiny wooden bench right by the backdoor which Dumbledore wasted no time plopping down on and waving for Alanna to do the same right by his side. 

There wasn’t much of a garden for Dumbledore to see. Rebecca had tried to start a bit of a flower garden back when Alanna and Christine were old enough to begin looking after themselves for the most part, but then Alanna’s accidental magic began and the garden was left abandoned standing as nothing more than a graveyard to what could have been.

“It’s quite a lovely day, is it not?”

Alanna furrowed her brows. “My mum kept complaining about the heat.”

“Ah, yes, but I quite enjoy the heat. It’s nice to work up a bit of sweat now and then. Would you like some sweets?” Dumbledore offered her a small sherbert lemon out of seemingly nowhere. 

Too shocked to respond, Alanna simply accepted it and began sucking on the sweet.

“Your mother mentioned quite a few strange events happening around you,” Dumbledore remarked.

Alanna squeezed her eyes shut. “She tells those stories to everyone hoping they can explain things. I’m so sorry. I’m not actually that-.”

Dumbledore chuckled softly and placed a wrinkled old hand on Alanna’s shoulder. “It’s alright, my dear, I can offer an explanation. Would you believe me if I said it was magic?”

Alanna stared at him blankly, wondering why her mother would allow some crazy old man in the house and then wave them off to be alone together? It didn’t seem anything like her mother.

“And now I presume you’re believing my words to be a lie, would I be wrong?”

Alanna’s eyes widened. “Did you use magic to figure that out?”

Dumbledore smiled and shook his head. “There was no magic needed, my dear. I assure you everything I am saying is true. The cases your mother spoke of were nothing more than accidental magic. At Hogwarts, you will practice this magic and learn to control it.”

Alanna sighed, dropping her shoulders. “I’m afraid I’m not allowed to go to school with other kids. Mum won’t let me.”

Dumbledore hummed and pat Alanna’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, my dear. At this school, these children are just like you.”

Alanna sucked in a sharp breath, turning to Dumbledore with the stars in her eyes. “So..,” she trailed off, not allowing herself to speak for fear of jinxing herself.

“You can go to school again, Alanna,” Dumbledore assured her.

Alanna felt lighter than air as they both turned to look at the garden. She wouldn’t be stuck in this house forever. She was looking at freedom. Real freedom. With people like her. Could there be anything better? 


	2. An Improper Place

**Flora Greengrass**

**July 31, 1971**

The letter felt itchy in her hands. What sort of school was this that they couldn’t even afford paper that didn’t itch? She had half a mind to agree with her mother and reject Hogwarts.

“I refuse to allow our child to be taught by the likes of Albus Dumbledore!” Lucretia shrieked. 

“I am not moving to France just so our child can be taught by some mammoth, Lucretia,” Wilbur retorted. “End of discussion! Our child is English, she will be taught by the English!”

“Yes, and when she comes back a blood traitor, what will you do then, Wilbur?! What will you say to her?!”

“Mother!” Flora exclaimed, turning back to the woman with wide eyes. She’d inherited much from the woman. Dark brown skin, tight and tiny black curls, and eyes so dark brown they were nearly black, none of her father’s pasty skin or dirty blond locks. In fact, the most she got from her father was a similar chin. As a result, she tended to sway towards her mother more often in parental arguments due to her mother often insisting Flora was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen and she was far more of her mother’s daughter than her father’s. Still, she couldn’t believe her ears when she listened to what her mother assumed of her. “I would never consort with mudbloods and blood traitors! What do you take me for?!”

“Finally, some sense,” Wilbur huffed, gesturing to Flora.

“I know, my love,” Lucretia hummed, hurrying over to Flora and taking her face in her hands. “But Albus Dumbledore is not like us at all. He doesn’t hold our values. And with him running the school…,” she trailed off with a sigh. “I can’t say what the school has fallen to.”

“Did you not attend, Mother?” Flora asked, furrowing her brows.

Wilbur scoffed. “Hogwarts was not good enough for your mother it seems, yet the Ministry of Magic was a suitable enough job for her.”

“ _ My _ parents believed Beauxbatons was the perfect school for a young lady such as myself. It’s a shame your parents cannot say the same.”

“Your parents moved to France because your father got a job with their Ministry!” Wilbur snapped. “You moved back when he was fired just in time for lovely little Orion to go to Hogwarts! Don’t lie to the girl, Lucretia!”

“Nevertheless! At Beauxbatons I was raised to be the woman I am today and I will not settle for less for my dear Flora!” Lucretia cried, patting Flora’s cheek softly. “Are you telling me you won’t accept a good education for our daughter, Wilbur?!

“Hogwarts is a perfectly acceptable education, Lucretia, and that’s the last of it!” Wilbur hissed his eyes like daggers. 

Flora had only ever seen this look on her father a handful of times and none of them ended well. She had never seen what happened if her mother attempted to push back against his firm glare, but she didn’t know if she wanted to with the way it so effectively silenced her mother’s fury. 

As expected, her mother fell silent and her father took a deep breath. He pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to Flora.

“Did your supplies list arrive with your letter, Flora?”

“Yes, Father,” Flora said, pulling the supplies letter out to show her father. 

Wilbur took a deep breath and nodded. “Good. We will be going to Knockturn Alley to pick up what you need for school. Go upstairs and get changed so we can leave.”

“Yes, Father,” Flora repeated. Without wasting a second of time, she climbed out of her seat and darted towards the grand staircase in their three-story home. 

She went straight up to the third floor where her bedroom laid and within her bedroom their house-elf Minkey sat waiting patiently by her bed with a row of clothes laid out for her.

“Minkey has everything you like the most, miss,” Minkey said with a short bow. 

“Thank you, Minkey!” Flora exclaimed, darting towards her emerald dress in the middle. It was her favorite dress. Her mother had bought it for her to impress the ministry when she had been brought in to work with her parents during breaks from her pureblood primary school. 

Though she had to admit she felt a bit of a loss not going to Beauxbatons, she was excited to be sorted into Slytherin. Her father had told her great stories of the house and she was certain she could make wonderful friends within it. 

She wasn’t quite the best at making friends in her primary school, they were all just far too immature for her tastes, but she accepted it. She didn’t have much of a choice after all. 

However, at a school as big as Hogwarts she was certain she could make at least a few good friends.

She got changed and headed down the stairs to meet her father. 

Wilbur took her hand and guided her to their floo. 

“Be sure to speak very clearly,” Wilbur instructed. “Knockturn Alley.”

“Knockturn Alley!” Flora exclaimed, and with a puff of smoke she disappeared.

When she reappeared she knew within a moment that she was not on Knockturn Alley. She had been to Knockturn many times growing up for her parents often thought it best to bring her along wherever they needed to be rather than leaving her home alone with the house-elf. They never trusted anyone but themselves to look after her. She had never minded Knockturn Alley, it was a fascinating enough place but she had to admit a part of her had always been curious about Diagon Alley. Her parents never enjoyed going there claiming it was too crowded and noisy and thus kept her away at all costs but at that moment she knew her feet were firmly in one of the shops inside Diagon Alley and her curiosity was hungry for more. 

The shop she was in didn’t seem to be fairly crowded to her surprise after her parents' numerous statements condemning the Alley for such. With Hogwarts starting very soon, she’d think every shop would be packed to the brim with witches and wizards looking to buy supplies but then again this was no Ollivander’s. If she had to guess, she was in some cauldron shop or apothecary.

She brushed the dust off her dress ensuring it still looked well enough to present before stepping out of the floor and promptly stumbling forward several steps until caught by a very frail-looking old man with curly white hair atop his head and very tan yet wrinkly skin. He helped her regain her footing before granting her a tight smile.

“Well, hello there dearie,” the man said. “Lost your way while flooing, have you?”

“Oh, yes,” Flora sighed. “I was hoping you might point me in the right direction. I was meant to meet my father beside Knockturn Alley.”

“Ah, you’re a ways off there. Once you head out of my apothecary, take a left. Head straight down until you see the Leaky Cauldron. Knockturn Alley shouldn’t be far from there.”

“Thank you, Mister-?”

“Jigger. Arsenius Jigger. Not at all, my dear. You’d be surprised how many lost young witches and wizards pop in here around this time of the year.”

“Ah, so I was right about it being an apothecary!” Flora exclaimed with a small laugh. “I do so love when I am right.”

Jigger observed her with a small smile before chuckling softly. “Yes, well you better get on your way so your family isn’t missing you,” he said, placing a soft hand on Flora’s back and guiding her towards the door.

Before they could reach the exit, two teenagers came tumbling in laughing together with bright smiles. The girl looked quite familiar with her dark brown mess of curls and tanned skin but Flora couldn’t seem to remember her name. Her heart sank as she continued to narrow her eyes on the girl. She must be pureblood, Flora knew that much. Outside of business associates of her parents, the only people Flora had ever truly known were the purebloods in all her family. She supposed she could include the children she went to her pureblood primary school with but she had never really bothered to get to know them or commit their faces to memory. It wasn’t as if it mattered. Most of them had swanned off to Durmstrangs or Beauxbatons by now anyway.

“I don’t see why you go through all this trouble, Andromeda!” the boy laughed. “We could just as easily slip into the Leaky Cauldron with no one the wiser.”

“Teddy, you know as well as I do that I have family everywhere. It’s just easier to be on the opposite end of the Alley,” Andromeda huffed. 

Flora’s eyes widened. It was her cousin. Andromeda Black. The Black sisters had visited her home while she grew up many times, but she didn’t know the “Ted” she was speaking to, and based on his somewhat ragged clothing, she knew he couldn’t be from any pureblood families. No pureblood parent would dare to send their child out looking that way.

She puffed her chest up and marched confidently toward Andromeda. It took the girl just a few seconds to notice the young girl in her path and the sight made her jump back a few feet while Ted laughed at her.

“Andy, what’s wrong?” Ted asked, placing a delicate hand on her elbow. Andromeda quickly shoved him off. “It’s just a little girl,” he insisted, his tone breathy as he watched the fear take hold of Andromeda. 

“Flora,” Andromeda gasped. “I know we’ve never really spent much time together, just the two of us, but I need you to do me a massive favor. I will help you with anything you need when you get to Hogwarts. I just need you to keep this to yourself.”

“Andy, you sound mad. She’s just a little girl.”

“She’s  _ not _ just a little girl!” Andromeda snapped. “She’s my cousin. We haven’t been together long enough for you to understand the training our family likes to put us through. She knows who you are and she knows what’s happening.”

“How can you-?”

“You’re a Muggleborn,” Flora muttered, narrowing her eyes at him. “You’re hiding a Muggleborn from everyone. Is this the sort of thing that happens at Hogwarts? Slytherins consort with  _ Mudbloods _ ?”

Ted’s jaw clenched at the insult but didn’t speak. Flora couldn’t work out if his silence was due to Andromeda holding him back or him thinking of her as nothing more than a little girl. 

“ _ That’s _ what I’m talking about,” Andromeda hissed. “Get out of here. I’ll talk to her.”

Andromeda began shoving Ted away towards the exit, but Ted hesitated when he looked to the confidence and near smugness in Flora’s face. 

“But-.”

“ _ I can handle this _ ,” Andromeda insisted. “Just go.”

Ted looked uncertain but one more forceful shove from Andromeda was all it took to get him scurrying out the door.

Once he was out of hearing range, Andromeda knelt down so she was the same height as Flora and took a deep breath.

“Do you want to do this here or shall we go somewhere we can both sit down?” Andromeda implored, her face taking on a formal disposition as if she were at a business meeting.

Flora narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. “I’m fine here.”

Andromeda raised a brow at Flora’s crossed arms. She took a deep breath before rising to her full height. “Alright. Who are you supposed to be here with? Lucretia or Wilbur?”

“Father. Mother doesn’t approve of me going to Hogwarts. I can now see why,” Flora remarked, not bothering to hide the judgment from her tone.

Andromeda scoffed and rolled her eyes. “What are you hoping for when you get to Hogwarts? Popularity?” 

Flora’s eyes hardened as she looked up at Andromeda. “I don’t need the approval of people like  _ you _ .”

“If you hope to get anywhere substantial you’re at least hoping for the respect of your lessors if you can’t win their love. So, out with it. Do you want the friends you missed out on in primary? I know you can’t possibly be hoping for better marks in classes. I got the same education as you did from my parents.”

“And yet you chose to throw it all away on some filthy little Mudblood.”

“You and I both know that word won’t harm me so stop trying to get me angry. One day you might want someone to love you and if you act like this your entire life you’ll be alone.”

“I’d be respected if I couldn’t be loved.”

“Well, I might be able to help with that if you simply keep this to yourself,” Andromeda offered with a shrug. “Or you can be loathed by anyone fifth year and up in Slytherin. It’s your choice.”

“I’m younger than you. I can simply wait till you’ve all graduated.”

“You’re willing to wait three years until anyone actually bothers with liking you?” Andromeda scoffed, raising a brow at her.

Flora bit her tongue and stared down at the ground. She could hear her mother’s voice in her head yelling at her over Muggleborns at that very moment but Andromeda offered a good deal. Her silence for the assurance of an ally or two once she arrived at Hogwarts. She needed people to move up in the world and Andromeda was going to give that to her. All she had to do was turn a blind eye to her disgusting habits. 

Flora took a deep breath. She may live to loathe herself for what she was about to do, but if she could loathe herself whilst becoming Minister of Magic that was a bet she was willing to take.

Flora held out her hand and though she didn’t look up to see Andromeda’s face, she could feel her cousin smirking down at her.

She may have gained the respect of many, but she was certain she had just lost some respect for herself.


	3. The Hogwarts Express

**Alanna Pierce**

**September 1, 1971**

“I swear, mum! Dumbledore said you have to run at the wall and then you’ll end up on the platform!”

“This is your own bloody fault, Rebecca!” Her father snapped, throwing the map of the station he’d held down on the pavement. “If you hadn’t let some mad old bugger come in and spout rubbish to our daughter we wouldn’t be here!”

“My bloody fault, David?! I’ve half a mind to smack you into next week and show you who’s bloody fault this is! She’s got a wand and I’ve seen quite enough of those absurdly dressed folks to tell me this isn’t a load of rubbish so maybe you should hop off your bloody high horse!”

What followed was a mess of screams that Alanna couldn’t make out a single word of let alone a coherent sentence. 

She let out a breath and turned to her sister who sat atop her luggage on the trolley her mother had left forgotten a few feet away while she argued with their father. 

Christine glanced at the wall between platform nine and platform ten then back at Alanna. “This better not be you trying to rid yourself of me.”

Alanna grinned and ran up behind the trolley before her parents could stop her. When she grabbed the handlebar, her parents seemed to take notice of her once again but they didn’t get a chance to speak before she ran at full speed towards the wall between platform nine and ten. 

Christine closed her eyes and squealed the entire time, only stopping when the trolley fell still. 

The sisters stared at platform nine and three-quarters with wide eyes, both rendered speechless by the sight of the bustling witches and wizards running amuck beside the massive- and somewhat intimidating- bright red train. 

It was enough to make Alanna want to pass out. She couldn’t imagine seeing a day when this would be an ordinary sight for her, yet it would eventually happen. Dumbledore said Hogwarts was a seven-year-long education. 

Then again, there was every possibility that even in her seventh year she would be obsessed with the sight of that beautiful red train.

“Do you think they’ll allow me to go here in a year?” Christine murmured. “Or will I have to keep going to ordinary school?”

Alanna giggled softly and shook her head. “I don’t see why we couldn’t go to school here together.”

“Are you sure? Because I thought we’d be going to school together forever and then all of a sudden you, mammy was your teacher and I had to go to school alone,” Christine frowned, putting on her fake Irish accent again. She spun around so she faced Alanna yet still sitting atop Alanna’s luggage. 

Alanna smiled gently and placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “That was because I was meant to be here, Chris. You’ll see. Next year you’ll get a letter and we’ll be in classes together again. It’ll all be like it was supposed to.”

Christine’s face morphed into something Alanna had never seen in her sister. Usually, Christine held such a confident if a bit curious nature, she never had any real cause for concern or worry. Even when Alanna was confined to the house Christine never expressed too much fear from what Alanna had seen. She simply told all her friends that her sister was a vampire and could not place a toe outside. However, when she looked into Alanna’s eyes at that moment there was palpable anxiety. She understood Alanna wouldn’t be there when she got nightmares or when she needed help with her reading class. Until the holidays, Alanna would be gone.

“D-Do you promise?” Christine murmured, reaching her hand out for Alanna’s.

Alanna grabbed her hand and squeezed it, smiling firmly at her sister. “I swear. And besides, you can always write to me. I’m sure mum would be more than happy to help you with the letters.”

“But that takes so long,” Christine moaned, slumping forward over Alanna’s luggage.

Alanna snorted and rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you can survive an extra day in between my responses.” She pulled at Christine’s arm until her sister hopped off her luggage and the pair could share a hug. “Before you know it, it’ll be summer and I’ll be back in the house with you all the time.”

“Time doesn’t pass that fast, Alanna.”

“If you stop thinking about it, it will. After all, that’s how mum gets the day to go by so fast.”

Christine scoffed. “If you say so.”

“Oi.” Alanna grabbed her sister’s chin and forced their eyes to meet. “I’ll miss you arseface.”

Christine grinned, though it never reached her eyes. “I’ll miss you too, pube head.”

Alanna pulled her sister into a tight hug, closing her eyes as she felt Christine’s arms close around her. She could easily sink into this comfort and forget school and the future that awaited her. But if she was honest with herself, what future did she have in store back home if she did just that? Her sister was her only friend because she didn’t exactly have many options locked in her room. If she went back and ignored the potential she had, her sister would be the only friend she’d ever have. Meanwhile, at Hogwarts, she stood a chance of fitting in with people just like her. It was hope. She couldn’t give up that hope just because her sister 

Alanna took a deep breath and pulled out of her sister’s embrace. 

“Make sure to run back at the wall at full speed. You might end up hitting it otherwise.”

Christine stared down at her feet and nodded.

Alanna desperately wanted to stay just so she could wipe that look off her sister’s face but she knew going to Hogwarts was the only real option for her. She couldn’t stay with Christine forever no matter how much it hurt. 

“I’ll write you every single day,” Alanna swore. “And twice on Sundays.”

That at least got a small smile out of Christine. “You better.”

“Oi, I expect the same treatment, Chris.”

Christine giggled softly. “And you’ll get it. Bye, Alanna.”

“Goodbye, Chris.”

Alanna pulled Christine into one more painfully brief hug before she pushed her sister back in the direction of the wall and headed towards the train. 

She gathered all her belongings off the trolley and marched onto the train. Climbing aboard was an entirely different world from the sorrowful farewells between family members outside. Children of all ages were running amuck, a couple of elder students even throwing spells at each other which captivated Alanna. There were all sorts of animals in the compartments she peered into and Alanna cursed her luck at her family not holding enough money to buy her an owl or cat to accompany her to school. She had tried, mind you, but the only response she received from her mother was, “ _ do you think we have enough money to buy cat food every two weeks?! _ ” 

After shuffling across half the train, Alanna eventually found an empty compartment where she could gain some comfort. While she was anxious to make friends at this school she was also wary of intruding on the friendships of others. She didn’t want to be someone's awkward add-on. She wanted to find friends in her own time. 

With that in mind, she decided to open her suitcase and dive into some of the books she’d had to buy for school. While teaching her, her mother always stressed the importance of reading ahead. She insisted Alanna had great talent in literature she just needed to apply herself, that’s why at 10-years-old she had Alanna reading Shakespeare and Jane Austen. 

Alanna decided to start with the obvious choice:  _ A History of Magic _ . She figured the best way to go forward was to learn everything the other children probably already knew.

She got a sentence in when her compartment door swung open. A boy looking to be the same age as her with wild brown hair sticking up in every direction, circular silver glasses, and dozens of bags seeming to be weighing him down. 

Immediately, Alanna jumped out of her seat and helped him load his belongings into the compartment. 

“Thanks. Hope you don’t mind. This one’s the only one empty,” the boy huffed.

“Well, it’s not empty but it’s no trouble. I was only about to start reading,” Alanna hummed.

“Reading on the first day?” the boy snorted. “You’re Ravenclaw bound for sure!”

“Is that good?” Alanna frowned. 

The boy shrugged. “Depends. You ask me anything’s better than Slytherin. Are your parents Muggles?”

“Yeah,” Alanna sighed. “I don’t think my dad still believes in all this. It was quite the day in our house when Dumbledore showed up and told me I was magic.”

The boy’s eyes widened as he sat down in the compartment, straight across from where she had taken her seat. “Dumbledore himself paid you the visit? That’s rare. Usually, it’s only the professors and sometimes the old gamekeeper doing the muggle visits. You must be a special case.”

Alanna furrowed her brows, her heart skipping a beat. “I don’t think so. Well, I mean, I’ve been a bit cooped up in the house since my accidental magic messed with people a bunch. Maybe, he chose to visit me because of that?” She proposed.

“I don’t think so,” the boy murmured, stroking his chin as though he had a beard there. “My parents told me it would just be for people who need special help going to school. I didn’t really get it but it doesn’t seem like you needed lots of help, did you?”

“No, my mum took me shopping for my school stuff and my sister brought me onto the platform. It was pretty easy.”

“Well, maybe, he just had other students to get to the same day and just chose to stop by your home.”

“Oh, that’s not fair! You can’t just tell me I’m a ‘special case’ and then say I was just one of his stops that day!” Alanna laughed.

The boy snorted and shook his head. “What do I know. I just go to school here. By the way, I’m James,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Alanna Pierce,” Alanna smiled, shaking his hand. 

The compartment door swung open again. 

“Can I please come in here?” a chubby little boy with dusty blonde hair and a very green face gasped. “I don’t like the motion-I-.”

“Are we moving?!” Alanna exclaimed. She jumped out of her seat and ran to the window to see that while she and James had been talking the train had pulled into motion. Funny, how she barely noticed.

“Take it all in, Pierce. This is the world you’ve been missing out on,” James chuckled. 

“Okay, I haven’t been stuck in my house since birth, thank you. Just the past few years.”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” the boy mumbled, plopping down in the spot beside Alanna and squeezing his eyes shut. 

“If it helps I’m certain there are plenty of muggle-borns who share in your suffering. But, I am not one of them so I get to make fun of you for it,” James explained with a smirk.

“You’re muggle-born,” the sick boy looked up to her with a frown.

“Yeah,” Alanna murmured, glancing back to James for some sort of backup. “Is that alright?”

“What’s your name, mate?” James asked, immediately stepping in front of Alanna, a look crossing over his face that worried the girl.

“Peter Pettigrew. I-It’s alright that your muggle-born. I-I wasn’t. I was just-.”

James’s scary face melted into a genuine, lighthearted smile as he chuckled and punched Peter on the arm. “I was just joking, Pete. I have come to be very protective over Miss Pierce in the ten seconds we’ve known each other.”

Peter smiled softly and shook his head. “You’re going for Gryffindor, aren’t you?”

“But of course!” James exclaimed. “The best house of them all!”

“Okay, can you help me with that bit? I don’t really get the houses?”

“I’ll be your happy helper through the whole wizarding world,” James assured her with a quick pat on the arm. “The best house is Gryffindor. All my family has been in that house. It’s where the brave lads are. Or-er brave  _ ladies _ ,” he amended, bowing slightly. “Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are sort of meh in the middle. Hufflepuff is the house of all the softies. You gotta love them. You could do anything and they’d just dote on you.”

“I don’t think it’s quite like that-,” Peter tried.

James held up a hand to stop him. “Hush, Pettigrew. The lady has chosen me as her guide and I will do my job as faithfully as I can.”

Alanna giggled and shook her head, knowing there was likely some bias in James’s description of things but having far too much fun to care. She would learn as she went if she had to so long as she could see how James saw this world for even five minutes. 

Peter shrugged his shoulders at the dismissal and leaned back against his seat, closing his eyes and likely trying to shut out the movement of the train.

“As I was saying,” James carried on. “Ravenclaws are a bit of a stick in the mud. They’re all about logic and braininess.”

“Didn’t you say I could be a Ravenclaw?” Alanna frowned. 

“Hush, I was lying, anyway,” James continued, brushing her off with a wave of his hand. Alanna snorted but kept listening. “They’re the bookish sort. But I have to admit I am quite fond of their house colors. I love a good red, but blue has never done any wrong. The only thing wrong with Hufflepuff is their house colors. Yellow is a bit gaudy for my tastes. Anyway, Slytherins.” James cringed and made a gagging gesture. “They’re snakes, the lot of them. Many of them even look like snakes. You’ll get the joke when we get to Hogwarts. They hate the muggles.”

“What? Surely not all of them?” Alanna scoffed.

“All of them,” James insisted. “It’s a horrid house. But you won’t be in there. I know that for a fact. You’re brilliant. You’ll end up in Gryffindor with me.”

“What if we both end up in Slytherin?” Alanna proposed with a raised brow. 

“Then I’ll sneak you out with me so we can board this train back home. We can become stowaways by dawn.”

Despite herself, Alanna snorted and shook her head. He clearly had some very skewed ideas about the world she was entering but she had to admit she enjoyed talking to James. She didn’t think she’d be lucky enough to make a friend so soon into her trip to school but she supposed fortune favored her that day and granted her this sign that Hogwarts would be good for her. She wasn’t exactly planning on complaining. 

The compartment door opened again. A boy with wild curly black hair, golden skin, and dark brown eyes waltzed inside while a pale boy with scars across his face and light brown hair cowered in the corner.

“Mind if we sit in here?” the black-haired boy asked, his tone indicating he planned to sit in there regardless of how any of them answered. “The other compartment was filled with prats.”

Alanna opened her mouth to answer when the boy shoved his belongings into the top shelf and dropped one bag beside James before plopping down in the seat next to James with a sigh. He glanced around the compartment with narrowed eyes. 

“None of you are related to me, are you?”

“How would I be related to you?” Alanna frowned.

The boy’s eyes widened. “Oh, please tell me you’re muggle-born,” he gasped.

Alanna furrowed her brows. “Yeah?”

The boy grinned. “Absolutely perfect.” He turned to James. “And you are?”

“James Potter,” James said, holding out his hand.

“Brilliant, a Potter and a muggle-born. This’ll do nicely.” He peered out to where the scarred boy was still tiptoeing between the compartment and the corridor. “Rem, get your arse in here. These are good people.” The boy did as he instructed, rushing in to shove his belongings anywhere there was space before sitting down between James and Alanna. “I’m Sirius Black. That’s Remus Lupin,” he said, jabbing his thumb towards the other boy. “And before you ask about the name if I get into Slytherin with the rest of my family I want you to take me into the darkest corner of Hogwarts and end it all.”

James snorted, glancing back at Alanna with a wild grin. “I think we’re going to be good friends.”'   
  



	4. The Sorting Ceremony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got bored, here's an extra chapter this week

**Paris Flint**

**September 1, 1971**

Paris didn’t like the idea of their names being called before the whole school. Her mother promised she had sent word ahead of the name she chose for herself, but she couldn’t be sure. 

She so hoped she didn’t get put in a dorm with some girls who knew her when she was little. Well. Littler. 

This had been her one fear since she received her letter on her eleventh birthday. It was a justified fear she thought. Wasn’t it the fear everyone bore? Acceptance? She just felt she had more of a reason for it. No. That was a bit rude, wasn’t it? She shouldn’t think such rude thoughts. She had seen how far it had gotten her father. Not that her mother was much better but at least she had readily accepted Paris when she marched into her parent's bedroom and insisted she was a woman. Her father had taken a little more time to come around. 

Professor McGonagall, a tall, stern-faced woman who had guided them into the Great Hall now stood beside a mangy old brown hat and a stool. 

This was the Sorting Ceremony, her parents had told her, she didn’t look forward to it. She had no particular inclinations towards any of the houses as she was certain many of her peers did. If she had to pick she supposed she could look smart in blue. If she was rather honest she just wanted it to be over with so she could eat and go to bed. She’d barely had breakfast out of anxiety for the day and she certainly didn’t want to fill her stomach with sweets from the trolley witch. She could hear her mother admonishing her for the very thought when the witch passed by her compartment.

She wondered aimlessly if she might make any good friends in her seven years here. She didn’t think it was very likely. She wasn’t the sociable kind and she hadn’t even had the chance in her compartment on the train ride there. They were all seventh years. At the very least, she knew better than to try a friendship with them. They all knew each other too well and would be gone by next year anyway. She stuck to spending the train ride reading.

“Simon Arnold!” Professor McGonagall called. Paris cringed. It was starting. It would be a while to her name which certainly didn’t make matters better, but hopefully, anyone sneaking a glance at her would blame her anxiety on the sorting and not her name.

Simon was put into Hufflepuff and the table applauded furiously for him. The sorting continued mindlessly and Paris found her eyes wandering to her peers. It was a funny thought that any one of them could be her best friend in the future. Again, she didn’t think it a great possibility, but it was a possibility worth exploring nonetheless. 

“Narcissa Black!” 

That was when the whispers started. Ah, yes. The famous rumors around the Black family. Frankly, she had seen those rumors in most if not all pureblood families but who was she to speak? She was a Flint after all. Though, she supposed Walburga Black and her strange methods of parenting were more than enough reason to whisper about the noble and most ancient house of Black.

To nobody’s surprise, Narcissa was sorted into Slytherin.

It was when Sirius Black walked up to the hat that the whispers grew a bit louder. She couldn’t tell if it was the way he carried himself or the way the Black sisters glared at him, but she was certain everyone could tell there was something different about this Black boy. The hat took its time sorting him and when it did, everyone in the Great Hall fell silent.

“Gryffindor!”

After everyone took a good minute to regain their sanity, the clapping and cheering started up overwhelmingly loud at the Gryffindor table. They were a rather loud bunch. 

Paris slumped down and took a deep breath. Just get this over with. They really should have more than one hat. The first hat could announce a house, then the next. It would make things so much more efficient. Then again, perhaps it wasn’t often they could convince a sentient hat to do their bidding once a year every year for the sake of deciding which colors children should wear for the next seven years. 

A girl named Lily Evans got sorted into Gryffindor and practically floated towards the table. She was rather pretty, especially when she grinned so wide. 

By her side, a boy with long dark shiny hair began cursing, his mouth twisting horribly as he glared at Lily sitting beside Sirius Black at the Gryffindor table. Paris scooted a few feet away from him. She wasn’t going to surround herself with someone miserable when her nerves were worked up enough. She scooted a bit too far and bumped right into a girl with golden hair.

“Oh!” the girl cried, turning to her with wide eyes.

“Sorry,” Paris cringed.

The girl’s face immediately softened. “No worries,” she shrugged.

Paris felt a bit of her anxiety melt away at the girl’s kindness. A boy standing beside the girl with circular glasses tapped her shoulder and began murmuring in her ear, making her laugh. With that one sight, Paris felt a little bit of her anxiety return. Maybe, she should’ve looked for a compartment with people her age so she would have someone to calm her down before-.

“Paris Flint!”

Paris felt her heart skip a beat. She said it McGonagall actually said it. She could melt right there. 

Hardly breathing, she walked up to the front and sat atop the stool. However, the hat hovered over her head for a brief moment and she looked up to McGonagall with furrowed brows.

“I just wanted to make sure you knew you have nothing to worry about in your classes. We have another student who chose their own name too,” McGonagall whispered.

Paris felt like she was on cloud nine, hovering above the stool rather than sitting atop it. The hat felt lighter than air when it was eventually placed upon her head.

“Interesting, very interesting,” the hat hummed in her mind. “A kind nature, bravery certainly, but you know your own mind very well. Very well indeed for someone so young. You’ll go even further in…. Ravenclaw!”

Paris felt her heart leap out of her chest when the hat was lifted off her head. Is this what everyone else was feeling leading up to the ceremony? There was nothing like it. 

She headed down to the Ravenclaw table which was screaming their praises and shook at least a dozen hands before sitting down, a smile plastered onto her face that she couldn’t seem to get rid of. Maybe, she could find some sense of happiness there. After all, this feeling couldn’t exist for no reason, could it? 

She didn’t try to talk to anyone or make any friends immediately, though she knew she probably should so she didn’t make the same mistake she did on the train. She preferred to watch the rest of the sorting ceremony and, somewhat morbidly, see if she could find some real anxiety at being placed in a house. She hoped the action might help her feel less alone in her fears surrounding the day, if she could only find someone looking as skittish and unprepared as she had felt. 

For all she knew the person who bore anxiety she found solace in could become her first friend at Hogwarts.

It wasn’t that she was incapable of making friends in her pureblood primary school, rather it was a bit of an odd period for her. She was growing into a body she hated and dealing with thoughts she didn’t find happiness in and when she hated both her body and her mind it was a bit difficult to find a way to enjoy her life. And as it turns out, none of the kids want to sit next to the grumpy girl who hated her life and hated the world she was stuck in.

But she thought she could do it now. She understood why she didn’t like her body and she could grow into someone she did like. She wanted that more than anything.

She tuned back into the sorting just in time to see Flora Greengrass get sorted into Slytherin. The girl practically skipped to the Slytherin table, making Paris snort. She supposed some people were just destined for certain houses. That thought gave her reason to pause as she looked up at the eagle banner sitting over her table. Was she destined for Ravenclaw? The sorting hat had seemed ready to put her in other houses but claimed she would do best in Ravenclaw. She glanced at the other tables in the Great Hall. Could she be sitting in Slytherin or Hufflepuff or Gryffindor? It was an odd chance of fate but a curious one nonetheless. 

With a soft sigh, she rested her head on the table and continued to watch the sorting ceremony- now more intrigued than ever at her train of thought.

A boy named Remus Lupin got sorted into Gryffindor, to the great pleasure of the only Black child that got sorted into Gryffindor. It made Paris wistful for a moment, once again regretting choosing not to venture out and make any friends. 

Mary Macdonald and Marlene McKinnon followed Remus into Gryffindor. Just as Dorcas Meadowes was called, a boy with close-cropped hair and a Ravenclaw tie so tie you’d think it was choking him walked over to sit beside her.

“Paris Flint, right?” the boy prompted, holding out his hand for her to shake. 

Paris narrowed her eyes at him, curious of his intentions, but shaking his hand nonetheless. 

“I’m Caradoc Dearborn. Ravenclaw Prefect. Sorry I didn’t welcome you to the table when you were sorted in. Quite the oversight on my part. My mate was just making corrections to some of my summer work and I had quite a few thoughts on his ‘corrections’,” he said, using his fingers to make air quotes around the word ‘corrections’.

Paris eyed him quickly. He seemed harmless enough, a bit odd if she was honest, but harmless still. She sighed softly and returned to watching the sorting ceremony. It seemed Dorcas Meadowes was sorted into Gryffindor. Blimey, the lion house was bursting with people, wasn’t it?

“You’re fine,” she murmured to Caradoc.

Caradoc followed her gaze with furrowed brows to the sorting ceremony. He smirked. “Your lot is far more confident than I was at the sorting. Sure, I’ve seen a few jittery kids here and there, but nothing to match the nerves I had at my sorting. I kept thinking I was going to be put in a house where I didn’t get along with anybody and I was miserable for seven years. I figured the hat would make some sort of blunder and leave me in a house that valued traits I was nothing like.”

“Is that even possible?” Paris frowned. “I mean, doesn’t the hat read your thoughts?”

“Precisely what I was worried about,” Caradoc nodded. “I thought just by chance I might be thinking of a moment I was particularly kind or cunning and the hat would slap me in Slytherin or Hufflepuff and I’d feel like I stuck out for seven years straight.”

Paris snorted and shook her head. “I wonder if that’s ever happened,” she hummed.

“I doubt it. That hat spends quite a bit of time digging through your thoughts if you have too many strays when he gets dropped on your head. You can see who had a clear head and who’s in their head too much fairly quickly.”

Paris had a fleeting worry that perhaps she had spent too much time sitting with the sorting hat and people knew of her fear. Then again, what would it matter? The length of time sitting on that stool hardly seemed to matter when the hat called your house. Maybe, she worried too much.

A small boy named Peter Pettigrew tiptoed up to the sorting hat positively trembling and Paris smiled. Finally, someone just like her. Someone who was completely terrified of this entire ceremony. Yes, her fear was for a different reason but the fear was there regardless. She just wanted to see someone who had been trembling as she had so she could feel less mad going into this school and, finally, she had managed it. It didn’t hurt that the boy was cute either. 

Peter Pettigrew got sorted into Gryffindor and looked completely alarmed at the announcement. Paris slumped slightly in her seat. Maybe, it wasn’t meant to be if he was in a totally different house. 

Next up was Alanna Pierce and Paris’s eyes widened. This was the girl who helped restore a bit of her confidence going into the sorting. She so hoped she could make friends with her. Maybe, she didn’t even have to be in the same house. Though, if she were honest that would make things an awful lot easier.

The hat sat on her head for a bit longer than Paris remembered it sitting on her own and Paris narrowed her eyes at the blonde. Was this what Caradoc was talking about when he said you could tell when people were too deeply entranced in their own thoughts? However, just as that possibility crossed her mind, the hat cried out, “Hufflepuff!”

Alanna’s eyes widened and darted to a bespectacled boy still standing in the crowd of children waiting to be sorted. 

“No, no!” the boy cried. “There must be some mistake! Everyone has been Gryffindor, she can’t be the only Hufflepuff! She can’t!” He insisted as he shoved through the crowd of children.

“There is no mistake, Mister Potter. Please stand back where you were,” Professor McGonagall instructed calmly as she lifted the hat off Alanna’s head.

“No, I will not allow this!” Potter cried, stamping his foot. “Lani, go to the Gryffindor table!”

Alanna smiled softly and jumped down, placing a gentle hand on Potter’s shoulder. “It’s alright, James. I’ll be perfectly happy in Hufflepuff and we can still be friends in different houses.”

“But it will be  _ so _ much more difficult,” James moaned, stamping his foot once again.

Alanna giggled and shook her head. “Then that will be the test of how strong our friendship is, won’t it? If we can remain friends in different houses?”

“I guess,” James muttered, rolling his eyes and pouting at the girl.

Alanna chuckled. “Good luck in Gryffindor. I’ll see you tomorrow for breakfast!” She called, skipping over to the Hufflepuff table.

“See, this isn't fair!” James yelled. “I’m already missing the rest of the day with you!”

“I promise you will survive until the dawn of the next day, my fair prince!”

“Not a minute goes by, I don’t miss your presence, my lady!”

“If you two are quite finished we need to continue with the sorting ceremony,” Professor McGonagall announced, glaring at James and Alanna. “Mister Potter,” she said, gesturing to the chair.

“Why, yes of course,” James hummed. 

He waltzed up to the stool and the hat was on his head for all of three seconds before it screamed, “Gryffindor!” James smirked, took the hat off himself, and marched over to the Gryffindor table.

Sirius leaped from the table and threw his arms out. “Baby!” He cried, racing towards James. 

“Sugarpie!” James hollered. 

James jumped into Sirius’s arms and the boy happily carried them both to sit at the Gryffindor table together.

By her side, Caradoc snorted. “Well, at least we know those two weren’t put in the wrong house,” he mumbled.

“No, but maybe their friend was. James did insist there was a mistake, after all,” Paris suggested, looking to the Hufflepuff table with a small frown.

“Nope,” Caradoc shook his head. “If she’d agreed with James and cried about the injustice I might have sided with her on her being placed in the wrong house, but she was far too nice about the whole matter. That’s a Hufflepuff for sure.”

Paris furrowed her brows. “I didn’t know there was such a clear difference. I was told the houses are about who you want to be, not who you are.”

“Yes, well some people are quite happy with who they are,” Caradoc hummed. 

It wasn’t long before the sorting came to an end with so few children left, the last first year was sorted into Slytherin and the house cheered until the very last moment possible. 

Albus Dumbledore walked up silencing every table with a wave of his hand. He beamed at all the students and Paris furrowed her brows at him. He seemed like a rather innocent old man. Her father didn’t like him very much. Her mother was very impartial, but Paris couldn’t see any harm in him. He bore rather colorful robes that Paris thought she would very much like to try on someday, and had a beard that seemed so long Paris knew it must reach down to his toes. 

“Quiet, quiet everyone. I would like to make a few announcements before we all get too lost in our marvelous little dinner to think straight. You may have noticed a mysterious new addition to our grounds. A rather large tree that gets a bit worked up if you choose to stray too close to it. This is a generous donation on behalf of one of our former students called the Whomping Willow. Try not to get on its bad side because you won’t like the end result. Also, we yet again have a new professor for the Defence Against the Dark Arts. Everyone welcome Professor Bates who will be taking up the mantle this year. I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing him good luck.”

A middle-aged pale man with slightly messy brown hair, a sweater vest, and a slightly depressed look about him stood. He waved to everyone as the classes clapped and quickly sat back down. 

“And with all my announcements finished, you may feel free to eat to your heart’s content!” Dumbledore exclaimed with a soft chuckle.

The old man waved his hands and across each house table, every type of food Paris could dream of appeared on each plate and Paris could hear countless gasps from students overwhelmed by the feast laid out before them.

Paris beamed at the  golden roasted chickens, piles of crispy roast potatoes, plates of steaming carrots, peas swimming in butter, and an enormous jug of rich dark gravy. Without wasting a second she began eating as much as fast as she could, knowing she was going to regret it but not finding it within herself to care.

Eventually, it was time to go and Caradoc got up clapping his hands and instructing the first years to follow his lead. A rather tall boy with a very young face bumped into her as she scrambled to wipe her face and get up to follow Caradoc. He looked down at her with wide eyes.

“You’re one of the first years?” He assumed with a raised brow. Before Paris got a chance to answer, he held out his hand. “Frank Longbottom. Third-year. You’d better get going but I can show you the ropes tomorrow if you’d like. Castle does your head in a bit to try and get around regardless if you have parents telling you about it as you grow up or not.”

“That would be great, thank you,” Paris beamed.

“My pleasure. Need something to do. I love my dorm but the boys in it can make you a bit mad if you spend too much time with them.”

“It’s the first day?” Paris chuckled, unsure if she should feel amusement or worry.

“Yeah, too much exposure at first can ruin the whole year. Learned that the hard way last year. But never mind me. You best get going. Caradoc isn't the sort to sit around. He gets a bit impatient within the first few minutes.”

Paris glanced back with furrowed brows, and sure enough, Caradoc already looked a bit irritated, tapping his foot rapidly and glancing around the table likely checking he had all the first years already so he could leave. He spotted Paris and let out a very obvious huff as he waved her over.

“I see your point,” Paris hummed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you then,” Frank nodded. 

With that, Paris skipped away and Caradoc very obviously rolled his eyes at the time she took before guiding them onwards towards their common room. 


	5. Finding Friends

**September 2, 1971**

**Flora Greengrass**

Flora always had an appreciation for potions. It was practical. It held importance. Her father told her when she got to school this would be the class she truly needed to apply herself in. He could work with her if her grades slipped everywhere but potions. After all, the head of Slytherin House taught potions. If she couldn’t succeed here, she was ruined. 

She marched into class with several potions textbooks in her arms and sat at the table closest to the front with no one else by her side. She started unloading her bag only to hear the dismal sound of someone sitting in the seat next to her. Slowly, she turned, ready to glare at the person until they left- but her plans were foiled by the sight of the girl sitting beside her. 

Red hair, adorable freckles scattered across her cheeks, and a painfully red and gold tie around her neck. She couldn’t let a distraction arise in the one class she was truly dedicated to succeeding in. 

“You have to leave,” Flora snapped at the girl, her tone harsher than she intended but hopefully it would get her point across.

The girl furrowed her brows. “But there’s nowhere else open. I would have sat next to Sev, but he made some friends in Slytherin and I don’t want to interrupt them,” she smiled quickly.

“Sev?” Flora implored with a frown.

The girl turned pointed to a boy with skin so pale, Flora was certain he was whiter than a ghost. His hair didn’t help his complexion for it was as black as night and just long enough to cover most of his face. He did bear a Slytherin tie around his neck which Flora counted as some credit to the red-haired girl’s character, but he didn’t seem very sociable while the girl sitting beside her was positively beaming away.

Flora rolled her eyes while the girl observed “Sev” talking low to his new friend. She glanced around the classroom and it didn’t take long for her to spot a seat beside another Gryffindor with messy hair and a dour expression. Maybe, this girl liked the downtrodden and if so, she could be amongst the depressed in her own house. 

“There’s a seat right there,” Flora said, tapping the girl on the shoulder. “And he’s one of your kind.”

The red-head furrowed her brows and followed Flora’s line of sight before her eyes widened. “No, no, no, I can’t sit there. That’s James Potter. He’s a horrid sort of boy. He bullied Severus when we were just looking for a compartment to sit in on the train here. He even gave him some awful nickname I can’t repeat. I’d rather stay here.”

Flora groaned softly and rubbed her temples. Fine. The girl would stay. After all, she couldn’t exactly force her to sit next to someone who bullied her only friend. She wasn’t that cruel no matter how Andromeda glared at her in the Great Hall.

“Alright, I guess you can stay, but I need to focus in this class so if you distract me I will make you pay for it,” Flora warned. She clenched her jaw and opened her textbook to begin reading while Slughorn set things up for class.

The girl seemed surprised for a moment, but Flora heard her take a deep breath, and out of the corner of her eye, Flora spotted her nodded. 

“That’s okay. I want to do the best I can in my classes too. My name is Lily, by the way,” she said, holding out her hand.

“‘The best I can’ is not nearly enough unless my best is succeeding. If you want to help me study and become better then we can be friends, but if not…,” Flora trailed off and shook her head before she resumed reading.

“I’d love to have someone to study with!” Lily exclaimed, her hand still outstretched.

Flora raised a brow at her hand. “Who are your parents?”

It was only then that Lily’s smiled wavered slightly and her hand began to lower. That told Flora all she needed to know. 

“I’m sorry if my mother discovers I’m studying potions with a mudblood within my first day, she will disown me.”

“That sounds like a lot,” Lily frowned. “What’s a mudblood?”

Flora looked up at Lily and nearly felt bad for her. She looked so innocent and uncertain of the world she had just stepped into. Maybe, she could-? No. This is exactly what her mother and father warned her of. 

“I’m sorry,” Flora sighed, shaking her head. 

Lily opened her mouth, likely to try and ask once again what a mudblood was, but before she could get a word out Slughorn chose the perfect moment to start the class. Apparently, they would be learning the cure for boils on their first day. Flora was excited. She had studied many potions growing up but never practiced them.

It was a simple process making the potion. Add crushed snake fangs to your cauldron, heat the mixture, wave your wand over it, and leave it to boil before you add the rest of the ingredients and stir it. A couple of times, Lily tried to talk to her but each time Flora brushed her off.

She couldn’t understand why she felt bad about it. After all, she knew consorting with mudbloods was wrong and if she wanted to succeed she needed to pick her friends carefully. Then again, Andromeda hadn’t been disowned by all her friends despite dating a mudblood. But she was hiding it from everyone. Flora couldn’t be sure her own sisters knew about it let alone the Slytherin house. 

She could see why her mother wanted her to go to Beauxbatons rather than Hogwarts. Hogwarts seemed to blur the line between people who should and should not spend time together while she was fairly certain Beauxbatons would never put her under such stress so early in her education. 

She needed to find someone to mentor her. Someone who could guide her like her parents would while she was in Hogwarts. She loved her mother and father but it was difficult to be certain of certain specifics when she couldn’t just run down the stairs and ask them immediately. 

Maybe, she could spend more time with one of her relatives and they could give her advice as her mother would. Certainly not Andromeda or Sirius Black. Andromeda may be a help in giving her options for friends within Slytherin house, but she was dating a mudblood and would only confuse Flora further. Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor and for all Flora knew he would favor Lily and be biased giving Flora advice. 

She needed to know if it was okay that she was feeling sorry for Lily and if it was possible if she could truly study potions with Lily as the girl had requested. 

Flora waved her waved over her cauldron and took a deep breath, glancing around the classroom to see if there were any Slytherins she could spot that she recognized from family visits growing up. 

Her eyes stopped wandering when she spotted a small blonde girl giggling beside a boy with hair so blonde it was almost white, both donning green ties. She smiled. Narcissa Black was the perfect place to start. Flora’s father had told her Narcissa Black was growing to be a mirror image of Pollux Black and the way he beamed when he said it told Flora that was a very good thing. 

She took a deep breath and added four horned slugs to her potion. She could befriend Narcissa and maybe even her sister Bellatrix and then all would be okay. She would know how to go forward and her parents would keep their pride in her. 

“Very good, Miss Greengrass!” Slughorn exclaimed, grinning down at her potion.

She jumped, sucked in a sharp breath, and nodded quickly. She had been too immersed in her thoughts she hadn’t even noticed Slughorn walked around to check on their potions. 

Flora added two porcupine quills to her potion and dropped back into her thoughts. What she really needed to do was get herself into pureblood households more. After all, this is why her parents brought her around to see family so often growing up. She needed good influences that were her own age and at Hogwarts, it seemed it would be easy to get them confused just one day in. 

“Brilliant work, Miss Evans! All you have left to do is wave your wand over your cauldron and your potion will be complete!”

Flora looked over with wide eyes and sure enough Lily had been working faster and harder on her potion while Flora’s mind was wandering to all her plans for the next six years. 

It only solidified her beliefs that perhaps a muggleborn friend might be okay if it was simply to better herself. After all, Lily had a friend in Slytherin already. 

Flora inhaled deeply and shook her head. She needed to become friends with the Black sisters and fast. Things were becoming murkier and murkier by the second.

She stirred her potion five times clockwise and then waved her wand over it just as the instructions said. Slughorn walked over quickly and congratulated her on the potion, granting her house ten points, but it was a passing victory. Andromeda had warned her of the importance of who you were social with along with your grades but she never truly thought about it until that moment. 

Her instinct had been to secure as many opportunities for herself as she could which is why she bothered to cover up Andromeda’s secret for her and secure a social option when she reached Hogwarts, but she was quickly realizing she would need to develop a real relationship with her fellow purebloods should she wish to stay on the path her parents had laid out for her while she was at Hogwarts.

Class finished shortly after she finished her potion, a few students who didn’t manage to finish being assigned extra work before their second potions class.

Lily wasted no time running towards her friend Severus when the class had ended. It seemed he too had managed to finish his potion with a bit of time to spare. That had to bode well for Lily at the very least. Maybe, she could tell the Black sisters about Lily’s friendship with Severus and seek their advice on studying with the muggle-born then.

She gathered her belongings and tried to hurry out despite the crowd of students. Sirius Black ran up to the boy Lily hated and jumped on him laughing, drawing Flora’s attention begrudgingly. 

“Time for Herbology, Jamesy!” Sirius cackled. 

“For your information, I find it disgusting that you men do not miss a comrade as much as I do. She’s one of us! It’s the height of shame!”

“We’ve known her for a day, James,” a scar-faced boy grumbled as he shoved books into his bag.

“I have known you for a day and I would never betray you as you betrayed her!” James cried, draping his arm over the boy’s shoulders. 

The other three boys laughed and shook their heads at him. Flora just rolled her eyes and glanced back at the class. There weren’t many left in the room, everyone too excited to get out, but she did spot two familiar blondes that made her smile. Maybe, she could ask for advice right now.

She headed back to where the blonde boy was helping Narcissa slowly pack up her belongings. 

“I wouldn’t suggest Flying Class, Cissy. It seems there could be fun in it but charms, transfiguration, and potions are where your time is best spent,” the boy insisted.

Flora cleared her throat softly and raised her hand like the class was still in session. 

“Narcissa? I’m-.”

“Flora Greengrass!” Narcissa exclaimed, her voice high-pitched and sweet as she ran over. She pulled Flora into a tight hug, pulling away only briefly to grin at her. “I was so upset when we stopped spending the winter holidays together. You’re one of the best cousins I have!”

Flora chuckled and shook her head. “That’s why I’m here now. I was thinking we could catch up? Spend some time together?”

“Of course! We have History of Magic next and we should definitely sit together,” she insisted. She glanced back at the blond boy. “Lucius, is that alright with you? You could sit with Rabastan.”

“Rabastan is as mad as his brother. We have History of Magic with the Ravenclaws. It’s the perfect opportunity to strike up a conversation with the Flint girl.”

“Whatever you prefer,” Narcissa shrugged. She looped her arm through Flora’s and ushered her out of class by her side. “We are going to have so much fun together!”


	6. What Should Have Been Herbology

**James Potter**

**September 2, 1971**

James had never fancied himself the sort of person to get excited over plants. His mother loved them and had always tried to encourage James’s help in the garden but he figured once a vicious little shrub gives you a bruise you can’t rid yourself of for a week, it’s better to just forgo the whole practice. That was until he found out Gryffindors have their Herbology classes with the Hufflepuffs. Then he figured he might grow to like the plant class with a little time.

He surprised himself by how much he wanted to see Alanna. Now, he wasn’t a cruel friend. He wanted to see all of his friends and missed them when they were gone. It didn’t matter that he had known them a day as Remus tried to insist was so important. They were his friends. 

However, it felt different with Alanna. He supposed he just wanted to be best friends with her instead of just ordinary friends. Yes. That ought to be it. It was a rough blow when she got sorted into Hufflepuff rather than Gryffindor with him. He could see how it suited her but that didn’t make it sting less. He wanted to spend more time with her. He didn’t get enough getting to know her on the train before the other lads came jumping in and that was his one great mistake. Not that the boys weren’t brilliant to have around, he just supposed he missed Alanna more because she wouldn’t be there all the time. He shared a dorm with the boys. They would always be around. 

When he entered Herbology, he immediately began scouring the room for her. He didn’t get the chance to see her at breakfast in the Great Hall as she had promised and now he just wanted to tell her everything about how brilliant Gryffindor was. The other lads already knew seeing as they were in the house but it would be brand new information for her. He knew she would love it. 

His eyes skimmed along the crowd of Hufflepuffs until he spotted a perfect little blonde head in deep conversation with a young boy with curly hair and a tight yellow tie.

Immediately, James bolted over.

“But I just felt so bad, you know!” Alanna exclaimed with a laugh and the boy chuckled and nodded.

“Lani!” James gasped.

Alanna turned to him with a smile brighter than the sun. “James! This is Edgar  Bones. He’s brilliant. He was my first friend in Hufflepuff. I told him you were the most wonderful Gryffindor the school could ever hope to have.”

James puffed up his chest in pride as he stuck out his hand. “Pleasure, I’m James.”

Edgar laughed and nodded once again. “I’m well aware. Plenty of people are talking about your goodbye to Alanna yesterday and you practically jumping into Gryffindor.”

“The buzz of the school already, am I? I’m surprised I didn’t get this much praise while still on the train,” James hummed.

“Oh, you’re right about him being a perfect Gryffindor,” Edgar noted with a snort. “Sorry, about you not catching Alanna this morning, by the way. She was distressed all through Transfiguration. Kept saying you were meant to be together for breakfast? I’m an early riser and I really didn’t want to go to breakfast alone.”

“Not a worry, mate. ‘Cos we’re together now, aren’t we?” James implored, looping his arm through Alanna’s and raising a brow at her.

“Of course!” Alanna exclaimed and James loved how she didn’t hesitate. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Ed, I’ll see you in time for potions, yeah?”

Edgar beamed at her and nodded. “Sure.”

With that, James escorted Alanna over to where Sirius, Remus, and Peter had already dropped their belongings. 

Sirius smirked when he spotted who was on James’s arm. 

“Glad to have you back with us, Al,” Sirius said.

“Glad to be here,” Alanna nodded, beaming at her friends and making butterflies jump around in James’s stomach. 

Professor Sprout walked up and launched into a lengthy speech about how she was so happy to have them there as first years and they would have a lovely seven years together which James tuned out of without a moment wasted. 

“Don’t you want to know what it was like?” James whispered in Alanna’s ear.

“What?” 

“Why, Gryffindor of course.”

Alanna giggled gently. “Sure.”

“It was everything my father promised. You would love it. Everything’s such a brilliant shade of red, and the common room is the coolest place to hang out, and our rooms look so big! And then, of course, there’s the fat lady. I think she could be a cool portrait once I get to know her but for now, she just sings way too much. Oh, and our house ghost! He keeps trying to insist that we call him Sir Nicholas but you and I both know that’s never going to happen. That’s all too formal for Gryffindor. I would call him just ‘Nick’ but that seems too easy. We need a catchy nickname. Something that sticks. He was almost entirely beheaded so maybe there’s something in that we can work with. Though, would it be too rude to give him a nickname based on how he died? I dunno. I suppose if it were me I’d be a bit mad if some kid came in and started calling ‘rotted of old age James’. At least that’s how I hope I go out. I doubt I’d become a Hogwarts ghost though. Who would want to stay at their school for the rest of their life? I wonder if you get a choice. Is it based on how you died? When you die do you just get two streets in front of you and if you go down one you become a ghost, but if you go down the other-.”

“Mister Potter!” Professor Sprout snapped. 

James stopped in the middle of his sentence and looked up at her with wide eyes. 

“If you don’t mind I am trying to teach a class at the moment so could you and Miss Pierce please have your conversation outside of this greenhouse?”

“Professor Sprout, I was giving Alanna here the gift of knowledge. Just because she’s a Hufflepuff doesn’t mean she should miss out on the capital experience of being a Gryffindor and I was doing a public service by helping her understand the Gryffindor way of life.”

“Well, perhaps you can teach her the Gryffindor way of life outside of this classroom,” Professor Sprout insisted, glaring at the two of them. “Ten points from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Both of you need to leave this classroom so I can teach.”

James immediately bent down to grab his and Alanna’s belongings before taking her hand and bolting out of the class.

“I’m sorry, Professor!” Alanna called over her shoulder as James pulled her out. “I’ll come back later for the assignment!”

“And when you do you can get your ten points back, Miss Pierce! Have a very good day!”

The door to the greenhouse slammed shut and James promptly burst out laughing, bent over, wheezing at the situation. 

By his side, Alanna rolled her eyes and patted him on the back. “You better hope my parents don’t hear of this.”

“Don’t worry,” James chuckled. “They wouldn’t send letters to your parents over something so small. It’s the big stuff that worries them.”

“How would you know? You’re an only child!” Alanna scoffed, smirking at him.

James pointed to himself with a raised brow. “Magic parents.”

“Oh, wow, mister important man wants me to tell me everything about school now does he?” Alanna snorted. 

“I’m supposed to be your guide, aren’t I?” James reminded her. “Come on, I wanna see the whomping willow they warned us about.”

Alanna chuckled and shook her head. “Well, I suppose there’s nothing else to do now that you got me kicked out of class. You know, I don’t think you should meet my mum. She would say you’re not the type of friend I should have around.”

“I’m just the type of friend you need, c’mon. 

She skipped ahead a few steps so she could walk at the same pace as him, him already having a small lead on her. 

“So, is your mum the strict sort?” James wondered.

“What?” Alanna frowned.

“You were saying about her not letting us be friends?”

“Oh, er, sort of. Well, no, I-,” Alanna sighed softly and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I mean she and my dad sort of kept me confined in the house after I started doing accidental magic and getting into trouble at school but that wasn’t really their fault. They didn’t understand it. I’m sure I would have done the same thing if it were my kid.”

“How can you know?” James wondered.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s like my mum always says. ‘You’re still a little kid don’t bet on adult behaviors until you are old enough to understand them’.”

“What does that mean?” Alanna snorted.

“I have no idea but she says it every time I talk about how I’d do things differently from them when I’m grown up so I think maybe she means I shouldn’t act like I know how adults think.”

“They are strange,” Alanna agreed. “I’m sort of scared to be an adult. I think so much is going to change then and I’m happy right now. All adults seem so unhappy, it’s not something I’m excited for.”

“Oh, I’m going to be the best adult,” James assured her with a smirk. “I refuse to change a thing about myself.”

Alanna snorted. “I don’t think you get a choice in that.”

“You get a choice in everything,” James shook his head. “And that’s my choice. I’m going to be just like I am now, only I’ll own a home.”

“I don’t think you can have kids if you stay exactly the same as you are now.”

“Why would I think about kids?” James scoffed. “I’m eleven. All I need to think about is how wicked my house is going to be when I get older.”

“I guess I think about it a lot more because I’ve had to take care of my little sister quite a bit.” Alanna furrowed her brows. “My parents are brilliant, don’t get me wrong. They just argue very loudly and it scares her a lot.”

“So your sister’s younger than you?” James assumed, turning to her with a raised brow. “I thought when you told me on the train she brought you to the platform that she was older.”

“No, she’s a year younger. She’s just the only one who believed me when I said we needed to run at the wall between platform nine and ten,” she said, making James cackle. Alanna furrowed her brows and grit her teeth. “I think-I think I might have promised her something I wasn’t supposed to.”

“What happened?”

“Well, I told her that she would be getting a letter to Hogwarts so she could join me at school but she hasn’t shown any signs of accidental magic. I wasn’t really thinking at the moment, but now I’m wondering if maybe she’s not like us and she’s just-.”

“A muggle?” James guessed. Alanna tilted her head waiting for him to explain. “A muggle is what we call the non-magic folk.”

“Oh,” Alanna mumbled, hanging her head. “Yeah, I-I think that’s what she might be. She’s gonna be so upset. She was so excited for us to go to school together again.”

“Your parents took you out of school with her when you started doing accidental magic?” James assumed.

“Yeah, I was homeschooled and barely- if ever, left the house. I didn’t mind too much because people were usually there so it didn’t get too boring. Usually, it was just annoying.”

“They shouldn’t have done that.”

“They were worried. After all, I had to leave school after I accidentally made scissors chase a bully around the building. Mum looked everywhere for someone to help make sense of it all. It wasn’t until Dumbledore showed up that we actually got something that told us why I could do all of this.”

“I guess it’s better than being raised as an only child away from fine society,” James huffed. “I had such a lonely childhood.”

“Really?” Alanna snorted. “You’d never guess it.”

“Well, that’s because I was so excited to get here and start making friends,” James shrugged. “I knew I’d miss my parents, sure, but I wanted to talk to people like me. My parents are old.”

“All parents are old, James.”

“No, but my parents are  _ old _ . My mum always calls me her miracle baby. I have no idea what that means but they pretty much give me whatever I want.”

“Oh, what a terrible life!” Alanna scoffed. “Getting whatever you want from parents who worship the very fact that you exist and all you have to do is ask for it. I could never imagine living such a sad existence.”

“I’m serious!” James insisted with a laugh. “Well, I’m not  _ Sirius _ , but-.”

“That is not as funny as it sounds.”

“I promise you it is, but anyway it gets pretty old after a while and all you want is a friend to enjoy it all with.”

Alanna frowned. “Wow. That actually is sad. Congratulations you managed to turn your riches into something that actually made me bummed out.”

“That’s not the point I’m trying to make! I was saying I had fun growing up, sure, but I wanted to have fun with someone other than my parents. Going to Hogwarts I knew I was gonna find at least one person and I found four! Now with that in mind, do you wanna spend winter hols at my house?”

Alanna tripped. James quickly caught her but as he did, she looked up at him with wide eyes and James worried for a moment that she just stopped breathing before she let out a very loud gasp making him jump. 

“You want me to spend the winter at your mansion?!” Alanna screamed and James jumped again.

He glanced around quickly even though there would be nobody in the corridors in the middle of classes. 

“The entire school doesn’t need to know how disgustingly rich I am, Pierce. Just you and the lads.”

Alanna snorted and shook her head, carrying on walking and forcing James to scurry a bit to catch up with her.

“I can’t believe it. Ringing in the new year in a mansion. Oh, all my childhood dreams will have been met,” Alanna gasped, placing her hands over her heart. James smirked at her. He liked that she had a flair for the dramatics like him.

“Is that a yes?”

“That is a maybe,” Alanna corrected, holding up a finger. “I’d still have to ask my mum and dad and my sister’s birthday is in the winter holidays, so if I stay it may not be the whole holiday.”

“That’s fine,” James assured her with a shrug. “As long as I’m not cooped up in that house alone with the boys all winter,” he smirked.

“Oh, you go on this whole speech about how you’re so lonely and so in need of one friend in the whole world but when three come up and possibly spend winter with you, they’re not enough unless you have me?”

“Oi, I’m a Potter. We expect the best,” James grinned.

Alanna snorted and rolled her eyes. “Has anyone ever told you how arrogant you are?”

“I have no idea what that means.”

“My mum told me about it when my sister was being a bit of an arse. It pretty much means you think the world of yourself and that you’re better than most, if not all, people and the rest of the world lives to serve you.”

“C’mon Pierce, you gotta be fair on me. I’ve just started meeting most people and they are pretty sad. I, on the other hand, am brilliant.”

“I’ve just started meeting people too and I don’t act the same way you do!” Alanna exclaimed.

“Yes, but you spent your childhood worrying you were from another planet because of what you’ve been able to do. I spent my childhood learning I was a god for my very existence.”

“I guess that can tend to shape our personalities,” Alanna hummed. “Is that the whomping willow?” She asked, pointing to a large grey willow tree in the distance with very large limbs slightly swaying with the wind.

“Pierce, that’s the only willow tree for miles,” James snorted, jogging ahead of her towards the tree.

“It may surprise you but I did not grow up learning every flavor of tree.”

“Every flavor?!” James laughed. 

“Well, what else should I call it?! Besides, it hardly matters. You wanted to see the tree. There it is. Can we spend the rest of the period in the library? I really wanna see how big it is. Edgar says it’s even bigger than the Great Hall.”

“I don’t see how he can know considering he’s been here a night,” James hummed, approaching the tree slowly and inspecting it closely enough to make his mother proud.

“I think he has an older sibling here,” Alanna frowned. “Or a cousin. I forget. But he says he was told.”

“Mm.”

“So? Are we going?”

“Not yet. I wanna see why it’s called whomping.”

“What does whomping even mean?”

“Whomping is like hitting.”

“Why would you want to know that?!” Alanna exclaimed. “Let’s just go to the library. Maybe, I can get some use of this period you ruined for me.”

“You’re going to get the work later, don't act like I ruined everything. I can even go with you, and to the library too if you’d like. I just wanna see this. Stand back if you’re not as curious as I am.”

“I am curious,” Alanna assured him with a nod. “Just cautiously curious.”

“Which is probably why you’re in Hufflepuff,” James snorted. “Step back then,” he instructed.

Alanna didn’t need to be told again. She stepped back a few more steps so she was a good distance from the whomping willow but close enough to see what was happening and could arrive within a few seconds if James got hurt and she needed to run to him.

“I’m not sure this is a great idea. I don’t know where the hospital wing is yet and I’m not sure I could help you if you get badly hurt,” Alanna cringed, watching the scene unfold worriedly.

“I know where it is. I walked past it on my way to the dungeons this morning for potions. Unless it hits me so hard I can’t talk I’ll guide you there.”

“That doesn’t make me feel much better!” 

“Have a little fun, Pierce!” James laughed. “It can’t hurt me so bad that I won’t be able to be fixed up after.”

Alanna winced but didn’t comment so James took that as his cue to keep going. He took a deep breath and began hitting the whomping willow’s trunk. He didn’t resort to kicking but he hit it with fists and open hands countless times before he heard a deep groaning in the tree. He didn’t see the tree doing anything, but he could hear the shrill shriek from Alanna clear as day.

“James! James, just get out of there! James, it’s not worth it anymore!”

James glanced back, but before he could even try to see what Alanna was so afraid of- one of the branches of the whomping willow hit him hard against his side sending him flying into the air and dropping him just a few feet from where Alanna had been watching. There was a soft ringing in his left ear where the willow had hit him, and the tree knocked his glasses off his face but he couldn’t feel any major injuries or blood pouring out of him. Success!

He heard the grass crunching as Alanna ran somewhere off in the distance, likely picking up his glasses. She returned just a few moments later and slid his glasses back onto his face before helping him sit up. He rubbed the side of his face and moaned softly. It was bound to leave a bruise for the ache he had now, but he thanked his lucky stars it didn’t do anything worse. The way he saw it the worst-case scenario for him would be breaking a bone and he didn’t even think he got close, though with the hit the whomping willow gave him he didn’t doubt the tree could do it. Perhaps, it just decided to take it easy on him this time. 

“I knew we shouldn’t have done that!” Alanna snapped. “I tried to warn you! Why didn’t you listen?!”

“Pierce, if there’s one thing you need to know about me it’s that curiosity will always win out over the need to protect myself,” James huffed.

“Then, I need to work harder next time, is what I’m hearing,” Alanna hummed.

James had his eyes squeezed shut as he rubbed the side of his head, but he was certain Alanna was grinning. 

“So?” James sighed, slowly cracking his eyes open. “Library?”

Alanna snorted. “Can you walk there?”

“Yeah, it’s just a bruise,” James assured her. “C’mon, Lani,” he said, holding out his hand to her. She helped him to his feet and he leaned on her a bit while he continued to get his bearings. “Let’s go see this very big library.”


End file.
